GEORGIJS OSOKINS, EGILS SILIŅŠ and LNSO | LISZT PIANO CONCERTO AND BARTÓK'S OPERA

GEORGIJS OSOKINS, EGILS SILIŅŠ and LNSO | LISTA PIANO CONCERTO AND BARTÓK'S OPERA

Georgijs Osokins, piano

Egils Siliņš, bass-baritone

Dorottya Láng, mezzo-soprano, Hungary

Latvian National Symphony Orchestra

Conductor Andris Poga

Concert Hall “Cēsis” invites you to a special musical evening in which opera singer Egils Siliņš, pianist Georgijs Osokins and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra will meet on one stage. The first half of the concert will feature Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, while in the second half listeners will have the chance to experience one of the most original operatic works of the 20th century, Béla Bartók’s one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle.

Georgijs Osokins is one of the most striking pianists of his generation. In 2025, he became the first Baltic pianist to sign an exclusive multi-album contract with Deutsche Grammophon. His debut album For Arvo, dedicated to Arvo Pärt, received significant international acclaim, reaching both Apple Music’s monthly Top 10 albums and Mezzo TV’s top five. Critics describe Osokins’s performances as unpredictable, revolutionary and deeply personal, while American pianist Garrick Ohlsson has seen in his art a connection to the piano tradition of Vladimir Horowitz’s era.

In the second half of the concert, Egils Siliņš will invite listeners to immerse themselves in the mysterious world of Béla Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle. This work has long occupied the artist’s mind and attention.

“Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle is a very distinctive one-act opera with a mysterious, eerie and captivating plot. I am especially drawn to the composer’s rich musical language and vivid orchestral sound, which differ significantly from the usual opera aesthetic. One of the greatest challenges is the sung text in Hungarian. For some time I had wanted to do something new and interesting before my half-round anniversary, and I am grateful to Concert Hall “Cēsis” for the opportunity to bring this idea to life. I invite listeners to surrender to the colorful world of this original music,” says Egils Siliņš.

Bartók’s opera, which premiered in 1918, is considered one of the most important works in the modernist operatic repertoire. At its center are Duke Bluebeard and his young wife Judith, whose role will be performed by Dorottya Láng, a mezzo-soprano from Hungary. Judith gradually opens the castle’s mysterious doors, revealing its ever darker and more symbolic secrets. The work combines psychological tension, rich orchestration and a unique musical language, making it an unforgettable experience both for opera connoisseurs and for those discovering the genre for the first time.

The evening’s program will combine Liszt’s romantic virtuosity with Bartók’s dramatic intensity, allowing audiences to experience two brilliant facets of Hungarian music. It will be a concert in which outstanding Latvian artists, world-class pianistic mastery and one of the most mysterious operatic works in music history come together.

*Children of preschool age are not admitted to the concert.

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We invite you to fully experience the charm of Cēsis’s historic old town by staying overnight in our friends’ design apartments “Mācītāja māja” and “Spīdalas nams” at “Mājas Cēsīs”, or in the rural idyll “Žagaru māja” in the ancient Gauja valley.